The introduction of synthetic organic pesticides following World War II brought inestimable benefits to humanity and agricultural economic profitability. The widescale deployment of DDT resulted in the complete riddance, from entire countries, of serious public pests such as malaria mosquitoes. The use of DDT, other organochlorines, and, later, organophosphorus and carbamate materials was enthusiastically adopted into control programs despite occasional warnings about the hazard of unilateral approaches to pest control.
The development of new pesticides and the increasing amounts of pesticides used for pest control are closely correlated with the development of pest resistance to chemicals. The number of pesticide resistant species has greatly increased since the adoption of DDT in 1948. As a result, by the 1980s, the number of reports of pesticide resistance for arthropod pests was listed as 281, for plant pathogens 67, and for weeds 17. These numbers have steadily increased to the present day. Thus, the need for biological control agents, especially those with broadbase activity is especially important.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these problems in the art.